- Earth-watching satellite
- RAPIDEYE 3
- NORAD 33315
- 2008-040D
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Ross Sea
Orbit ends over Antarctica
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches Choma go over, but a receiver still asks whether it is above the horizon. Say where you are and this card answers.
Your position is rounded to about a kilometre and sent only to the Orbinauts API, to find the pass.
No brightness has been published for Choma, so it is not a naked-eye satellite and no city page carries pass times for it. Nothing here estimates one.
Seeing it
There is nothing to go outside for: it is too faint for the naked eye. What it is up there for reaches the ground as pictures and measurements, not as a light in the sky.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Pacific Ocean LIVE
Where is Choma?
At 5:39:13 PM UTC Choma was over the Pacific Ocean (33.8° N, 150.8° W), 552 km up, moving at 7.59 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Choma?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Aug 29, 2008.
Can I see Choma?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Choma, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- RapidEye AG
- State
- Germany, Federal Republic of
- Built by
- Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- 152 kg
- Operating
- Orbit class
- Low Earth orbit
From GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue, licensed CC BY 4.0: the operator, the state, the manufacturer, what it is for, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.
Latest orbital data
- Position received
- 5:39 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 5:39 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 33.8° N, 150.8° W
- Altitude
- 552 km
- Speed
- 7.59 km/s (27,317 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In sunlight until 6:37 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 97.4°
- Orbital period
- 95.5 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 15.07
- This orbit
- 535 to 548 km
- In shadow
- 10 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 1,670 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 2:40 AM, 14 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 2:40 AM, 14 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Choma, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Choma has been reported publicly in the past thirty days.
From Space-Track’s public conjunction messages; the latest report was issued Nov 8, 2026, 1:11 PM, 3 hours old. Only approaches serious enough to be reported publicly are listed: within three days and, for two bodies near the Earth, closer than a kilometre with a chance of a collision above 1 in 10,000, the level at which NASA moves the ISS.
Launched with
Choma shares its launch, 2008-040, with 6 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| RAPIDEYE 2 | Earth-watching satellite |
| RAPIDEYE 5 | Earth-watching satellite |
| RAPIDEYE 1 | Earth-watching satellite |
| RAPIDEYE 4 | Earth-watching satellite |
| SL-24 DEB | Debris |
| SL-24 R/B | Rocket body |
Read from the international designators of the US catalogue: the year and the launch number every piece of one launch shares. A body that has come down is no longer listed.
Beside the others
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Choma | 535 to 548 km | 95 minutes | 152 kg | 2008 |
| PAZ | 507 to 510 km | 95 minutes | about 1.4 t | 2018 |
| WorldView-3 | 612 to 615 km | 97 minutes | about 2.8 t | 2014 |
| SAOCOM 1A | 622 to 624 km | 97 minutes | about 3 t | 2018 |
| ALOS-2 | 630 to 632 km | 97 minutes | about 2.1 t | 2014 |
| SMAP | 681 to 683 km | 98 minutes | 944 kg | 2015 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 2:40 AM, 14 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "RAPIDEYE 3",
"OBJECT_ID": "2008-040D",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T02:40:04.770912",
"MEAN_MOTION": 15.07310099,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00088381,
"INCLINATION": 97.3716,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 336.3788,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 263.0861,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 96.9362,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 33315,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 98795,
"BSTAR": 0.00013197016,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00001934,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}